Sunshine, Flowers, And Not Enough Books

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

My husband and I went for a walk over the weekend. Usually walks are a bit of a production, I am not sure why. We tend to make the kids come with us (they complain but then end up enjoying it) and so it is a lot of nagging to get everyone out of the house and then there is the negotiating about bikes and scooters and whether or not helmets need to be worn. This time we left the kids behind. They had been working in the yard for quite a while so we didn't feel the need to enforce exercise. I took my new camera with me and my husband was very patient about stopping while I fiddled with settings and muttered to myself. None of the photos are that great but I don't really care. It was a beautiful day and I had fun.

We walked on the bike trail that runs through town. Actually, it runs through a couple of towns and we can access it at the end of our street. That only works in the evenings and on the weekends because we have to walk through a business to get there and we are only allowed to do that after hours. I am pretty sure that is all unnecessary information but there you go.

I am afraid that this blog hasn't been as book review focused as it could be. That isn't because I am not reading, it is more because I seem to be in a bit of a reading rut. I keep looking at all the interesting books I have, the ones I have been so excited to read, and somehow I just shove them aside and continue reading all my old favorites. I am enjoying all the old favorites but I have read them so many times I don't have much to say about them. They are so inextricably tied up with my past and my memories that I can't write a dispassionate review.

Right now I am reading another Mary Stewart novel. I do like her books. They are simple, old-fashioned, fun romantic suspense, the type of book it can be hard to find nowadays. But I am also eyeing Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers and The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. Yes, I have read them before and no, I won't review them. Besides, all I can say about Gaudy Night is that if you don't read and love the Peter Wimsey novels then we can't be friends.

Here is a side point. My daughter really, really wishes we had named her Josephine and called her Josie for short. For some reason she has always loved the name. It just seems like such an unusual choice for a ten-year-old.

I think I will just continue reading all my old favorites until I am ready to move on. I thought about making myself pick up something else but I know it just won't work. Even if I do make myself read a new book I will lose out on the enjoyment of it because a book read at the wrong time is a book wasted.

So that is what life has looked like around here. It is a lot of books read for the five millionth time, a lot of walks taken over and over again, and way too many cookies baked. Oh, and too many cups of tea to be counted.

The sun is shining, the skies are blue, and spring is finally on its way. I think the days of my reading rut are numbered. I am going to ignore the everyday, boring routines of life and I will continue to wallow in the nostalgia of so many familiar books.

Do you like to read books over and over or is once enough for you? Do you ever get stuck in a reading rut?

4 comments

I just re-read The Franchise Affair, which is one of my favorite Tey books. I'd really like a sequel to that one, or at least to find out how things turn out in Canada :) Which Mary Stewart are you reading? I thought I'd re-read The Ivy Tree the other day, but I ended up just reading my favorite parts.

I'm trying to decide if I get into reading ruts. I do sometimes binge on one author's books, but I don't think that's the same thing.

I read My Brother Michael last week and this week I read Airs Above the Ground. I do the same thing with books, I pull them off the shelves and read all the best bits over again.

I am not sure I would have described this as a reading rut before I started blogging. I would have just been reading old favorites. Now I am very conscious that I don't have anything new and different to write a review about. It doesn't look like that is going to change very soon because now I feel a great need to reread The Ivy Tree!

I love your photos and your life seems weirdly similar to mine, well the walks are, our kids have flown the nest. I have comfort books that I re-read from time to time. Gaudy Night is one and also Rebecca, I also really like The Daughter of Time and Mary Stewart, Angela Thirkell and Elizabeth von Arnim.

It does sound like we have a lot of books in common, doesn't it? I am glad you stopped by. It is always nice to meet someone who enjoys the same type of books and I definitely want to know someone who has a weirdly similar life to mine!